Keeping the Millennium Development Goals alive
Alliance2015, a coalition of some of Europe’s most authoritative development NGOs urges the European Commission (EC) to show bold and responsible leadership in the preparations towards the UN Summit on the Millennium Development Goals. The latest Report of the 2015-Watch - launched at a European Parliament Hearing on 1st June – expresses concern about the dramatic drop in EU aid for health and education in Sub-Sahara Africa.
Report 2015-Watch
The 6th report of the 2015-Watch
series " The EU’s Contribution to the Millennium Development Goals. Keeping the Goals Alive" reports alarmingly low EU aid levels for food, health and education, especially to Sub-Sahara Africa. EC aid increased from €7.5 billion in 2005 to €12 billion in 2009, but the percentage of allocations to food decreased from 4% of total funding in 2005 to 1.5% in 2008, basic health from 4.7% (2005) to 1.3% (2008) and basic education from 2.7% (2005) to 1.1% (2008). The report makes 10 recommendations to the EU commensurate with taking a significant leadership position in preparations towards and the 5 years following the UN MDG Summit.
Binding aid targets to reach MDGs
“These figures are disheartening and require explanation,” said MEP Gay Mitchell, who hosted the hearing. “To reach the MDGs we decided that 20% of aid should be for basic health and education and we reached that target for Asia and Latin America in 2009. In Sub-Saharan Africa especially we need to achieve these targets yet they appear to have plummeted to an all time low of 1.5% for basic health and education combined. I will be asking the Parliament's Development Committee to seek an explanation for this situation.”
The report calculates that if all donors shared the responsibility for education and health equally, the EC would have to increase funding from €605 million (latest figures) to €971 million annually for education and from €460 million (latest figures) to €1.5 billion for health to help close the financing gaps.
“No donor wants to move first, meanwhile the health and education financing gap is hurting the poor”, said Vagn Berthelsen, President of Alliance2015. “We urge the European Union to agree a legally binding target ensuring that 20% of all aid is allocated to basic health and education, and to strongly advocate for an international target at the UN MDG Summit. This way industrialised and developing countries will finally take joint responsibility.”
Hivos and Alliance2015
Hivos is part of the
Alliance2015, a strategic partnership of seven European development NGOs working together to play their part in reaching the Millennium Development Goals. Alliance2015 cooperates at the programme level in developing countries and at the policy level in Europe. For the past seven years, a key focus of that policy work has been Europe’s development policies. Other members are:
ACTED (France)
CESVI (Italy)
Concern (Ireland)
Ibis(Denmark)
People in Need (Czech Republic)
Welthungerhilfe (Germany)
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